Scavenging 70s Cocktail Culture

In Dave Arnold’s ‘Liquid Intelligence’, he talks about about a method he uses to increase the acidity of orange juice to make it act as a substitute for lemon or lime as the sour component in a cocktail. This got me thinking about other juices that might be suitable for the same treatment. Pineapple juice seemed like a likely candidate, as it’s got some acidity already, and conveniently pineapples have just gone on sale here.

I did some research on the acid content of pineapple juice, wading through various industrial science papers from the pineapple industry, and, as best as I can determine, pineapple juice has an acid content of about 1.2 g/100ml, of which 87% is citric acid and 13% is malic acid (the same acids as in lime juice, just in different proportions).

I picked up a small pineapple, peeled and cored it, and threw it in a blender. Then I strained it and squeezed it through a nut-milk bag to get rid of as much pulp as possible. My final yield was 400 ml of juice. I knew I wanted a final acid content of 6 g/100ml, so I needed to add 4.8 grams of acid per ml, or 19.2 grams acid total for the 400 ml. I went with a mix of 15.6 g citric acid and 3.6 g malic acid (about 4:1, part way between the acidic composition of lime juice and that of pineapple juice). Then I stirred until dissolved.

Based on the combination of acids, I figured the taste would work best as a substitute for lime. I substituted the juice for lime juice in a gimlet and in a daiquiri, and both were spectacular. A couple nights later, at the local cocktail book club meeting (where we were, not coincidentally, discussing ‘Liquid Intelligence’) we tried it in a Last Word. Aside from being a bit to sweet (the pineapple juice has about 8 times the sugar as lime juice), this was also quite good. The only recipe I’ve found it to be an unsatisfying substitute for lime juice is a margarita.

Next time I’m going to try getting the acid ratio a little closer to the 7:1 ratio of pineapple juice (so 4.2 g citric and 0.6 g malic per 100ml) to see how that affects the flavor. My guess is that this will make it a better candidate for replacing lemon than lime.

Lime Strength Pineapple JuicePeel and core a pineapple. Blend and strain, or run through a juicer. For every 100 ml of juice extracted add:
3.9 g citric acid
0.9 g malic acidStir until dissolved. Refrigerate, keeps at least a week, but the flavour is best right away. Use in place of lime in any recipe, but reduce the amount of simple syrup or liqueur or it will be a bit too sweet.

On my last post (over a year ago, whoops!) I gave a recipe for ‘The William’, an 1889 recipe for The Only William’s preferred whiskey sour.

At the time I was working on that drink I had to make a guess as to what Schmidt meant by pineapple syrup. I was recently reading Dave Arnold’s “Liquid Intelligence”, and decided to run The William through his formula for creating a balanced cocktail (in terms of ABC, sweetness, and acidity).

Based on the results of that math, it seemed what I needed for the pineapple syrup spot was 10 ml of something twice as sweet and twice as acidic as pineapple juice, or, ideally, 5 ml of something 4 times as sweet and acidic. So I think that when Schmidt referred to pineapple syrup, there’s a good chance he meant pineapple juice that has been reduced to a syrup, instead of pineapple juice with sugar added.

Trying the drink with this new syrup definitely improved it (it wasn’t a bad drink before, but it’s great now). So here’s my corrected recipe:

“The finest,” said William [Schmidt], “is what is known as ‘The William.’ Take the juice of half a lemon, juice of a quarter orange, a dash of pineapple syrup and a barspoonful of sugar. Don’t put any seltzer in, for that would spoil it, but add an ordinary drink of whiskey. Then fill the glass with shaved ice and shake it well; serve in a fancy glass, and there you have a drink fit for a king.”

-The Evening World. (New York, NY), 15 Nov. 1889.

In honour of Repeal Day I’m forgoing the Playboy Host & Bar Book and attempting to re-create a pre-prohibition cocktail invented by “The Only William”, William Schmidt, of ‘the bar by the bridge’. Schmidt was a prolific inventor of cocktails, designing hundreds of the course of his career. He was quite creative in naming them, as well, so he must have thought highly of this one to have named it ‘The William’. Strangely, despite bestowing this honour on it, this drink didn’t show up in his 1891 book ‘The Flowing Bowl'; it doesn’t appear in any other publications, paper or online, that I can find either.

At first I tried it with Alberta Premium Rye Whisky, and it was just okay. Then I tried it again with Bulleit Bourbon and it was excellent. The hint of sour from the pineapple worked well with the lemon to give this enough bite to counter the sweetness of the orange and sugar, and the caramel and vanilla notes of the bourbon really shine through. This one I will make again.

I just made up a fresh batch of falernum yesterday and was looking for something to make with it. At first I was thinking about making a Frosty Dawn, but then I noticed that I’d been left with a bottle of brandy after our last party so decided to try a different drink from the same creator.

It’s quite a good drink, though I think I prefer the Frosty Dawn by a little bit. It is a bit on the sweet side, and might be improved by replacing some of the orange juice with lemon.

This cocktail was created by Albert Carrillo in 1959 for the United Kingdom Bartender’s Guild competition in Los Angeles, where it won first prize and got Carrillo a trip to Copenhagen for the International Bartender’s Guild competition [source].

The similarities to his earlier drink, the Frosty Dawn, are obvious – nearly identical proportions, with orange juice and falernum as ingredients. This gives a fairly flexible formula for creating new drinks (four parts each spirit and OJ, and 1 part each liqueur and falernum), which I plan to play with a bit to see if anything sticks – I’ve got a promising lead already with gin and Ginger of the Indies liqueur.

Wow, it’s been a while. To do a bit of catching up, about a month ago it was Art of the Cocktail here in Victoria. I went to a couple excellent workshops (“Cocktail Archaeology” with David Wondrich, and “Culinary Techniques” with Jeffrey Morgenthaler), had a bunch of delicious drink and food at the Grand Tasting, and, most relevant to this blog, entered the Best Home Bartender competition.

This was my 2nd year entering, and I’m pretty pleased with how things went. I was much more relaxed than last year – still nervous, but I felt reasonably confident in my performance. I think that came from a combination of being quite sure I had a delicious drink, and doing a lot of rehearsing. It also helped that there were a lot of familiar faces both in the audience and behind the bar (all the other competitors were friends – we’d all brainstormed, created, and tinkered with our entries as a group).

My drink came in a very close 2nd place. One place I lost points was that my drink was a little too diluted. When I make it at home it’s with ice right from the freezer, but the ice at the competition had been sitting out and was therefore pretty wet, and I didn’t think to factor that into my planning. Something to keep in mind for next year.

Anyway, the drink I entered, El Humo Grande, is a variation on a drink I’ve posted on here before – the Margarita de Ajonjoli.

This is a very refreshing summer drink, light and dry and aromatic. The delightful pear flavour of the Poire Williams shines through, but is also nicely balanced by the lime. This is one I will definitely make again.

The Rickey dates back to the late 19th century, but the PH&BB is the earliest reference I’ve found so far to the pear variety. It shows up a few places online, occasionally calling specifically for ½ oz. lime juice, and sometimes including a bit of simple syrup.

This post is part of my project to make, and where possible improve upon, all the cocktails in “Playboy’s Host and Bar Book” from 1971.

For my second attempt at Mixology Monday, I decided to stick with the theme of this blog and pull something from Playboy’s Host & Bar Book. Andrea at Gin Hound selected cherries as this month’s MxMo theme, so between maraschino, kirsch, and cherry brandy I had a lot of options, but eventually settled on the San Juan Sling. I’d recently done up a pitcher of Singapore Slings for a party, and I think that may have influenced my choice a bit.

This ended up being a really nice drink. The Benedictine is the dominant flavour, but it doesn’t take over at all. Rum and cherry make up the finish, and the lime mostly just keeps the sweetness in check. Next party I may do a pitcher of these instead of the Singapore.

I can’t find much on the history of this one. It doesn’t show up in any of my books, and the few recipes I can find online are identical to the Playboy version. There are mentions of a variation that adds Angostura, but no recipes.

This post is part of my project to make, and where possible improve upon, all the cocktails in “Playboy’s Host and Bar Book” from 1971.